FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION (FTC)

The Federal Trade Commission is a law enforcement and consumer protection agency, which enforces anti-trust law. The agency also has the responsibility of providing information on the Fair Credit Practices Act to the public on consumer problems related to collection agencies, credit, or telephone sales problems.

Consumer complaints are used in determining specific areas to target for additional regulation or enforcement actions (new laws), but the agency will not intervene on the consumer's behalf or resolve individual complaints. Should the FTC undertake an enforcement action that results in a company being required to reimburse or address losses for individual consumers, public notices will be published so consumers will know how to file their request for recovery with that specific company.

The Consumer Response Center provides information on debt collection, fair credit reporting, telemarketing, misleading, deceptive business practices, business opportunities, and local agency referrals. The agency keeps data on consumer complaints but will not handle individual complaints.

The FTC publishes a wide variety of consumer publications on several topics including automobiles, credit, health, identity theft, telemarketing, and avoiding scams and rip-offs. Consumer may request publications by sending: name, organization, address, telephone and fax numbers along with a list of the publications requested to the address at left.
Also available on FTC website.